What brand of food are you feeding Buddy? I noticed in another thread you made some inquiries about raw feeding. I don't raw feed, myself yet, but everyone I know who does comments on the "shiny coats"

Maybe this is for you? Carina is our published expert on this...you could ask her,..

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If you are wondering if your dog can count, hide three cookies in your hand--and give him two!!

We feed Buddy Purina Dog Chow, he enjoys it fine. I've heard some people mix in a raw egg or two with the food. Ever heard of that? It's supposed to help their coats! So many questions , so little time!

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There is no other joy than seeing your child and their dog play!

Egg is good!! Fish oils--omega 3-6-9--sold at health food stores/drug stores. Plain yogurt is wonderful for their intestinal tracts and bacterial flora, but you should try something a bit better than Purina. A good food, human grade food that is, if it is for example "chicken" or "lamb n rice" then the chicken/lamb is the first ingredient. No by products either. If it's sold by the grocery store-then forget it. Names to look for would be, Wellness, Nutros, Solid Gold, your pet retail stores would have them. (Don't encourage pet shops!!)

But if you are looking into raw or Barf(bones and raw food) diet, I believe they even have food brokers that ship to your door, not sure about that one...

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If you are wondering if your dog can count, hide three cookies in your hand--and give him two!!

I have heard that Purina isn't very good from other people, I guess if I change, I should do it gradually, as not to upset his tummy? We switched once before when he was a pup and he had the runs for a week or two.

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There is no other joy than seeing your child and their dog play!

I usually take about 10-14 days to switch over, but my gang all have tummy probs except for Gypsy who could eat rust!!

Yeah just gradually increase the ammount of new kibble(if you go that route) and decrease the old. If you get a bout of diarrhea then return to the mixture of the previous day and stay there until you get normal stools.

Good quality food pays off, you'll spend more on food, but less time at the vet, and wait till you see his coat!!

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If you are wondering if your dog can count, hide three cookies in your hand--and give him two!!

Well, I just ran out of dog food tonight, so out to the stores tomorrow, I'll be buying bags of food now! One of the old and one new one. Since you've been so helpful, can you recommend a pet store? Super pet or petsmart? Are they any good? We also have ruffin's pet stores in Hamilton here? Ever heard of them? sorry about all the questions twinmommy, but I am learning tons and looking forward to making Buddy's life the most enjoyable he can have!

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There is no other joy than seeing your child and their dog play!

Ummmm, not sure about those store names, being from QC, we don't have those, but I think I've seen other members post good things about PetSmart...(please don't let it be an evil store!! ) The important thing to remember is not to buy your dog food from a store that sells puppies/ kittens etc. so as not to encourage backyard breeders and puppy mills.

Let us know how it goes, and how Buddy likes his new food

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If you are wondering if your dog can count, hide three cookies in your hand--and give him two!!

I'm going to post about the pet stores, see what other people have to say, the ones that live in ONTARIO that is! You are super helpful and thanks for the advice! I think I will go to petsmart tomorrow!

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There is no other joy than seeing your child and their dog play!

I mix a raw egg in Molly's breakfast food. She loves it and is so spoiled that if I forget her egg she looks at me like "Where is my egg mum" and she won't eat until I add the egg. What is even funnier , we have a border and I usually fix Molly's breakfast when I am fixing everyone elses and he reminds me not to forget Molly's egg too.
She doesn't seem to care that there is no egg in her dinner food because she doesn't hesitate eating when dinner is put down.

I'm going to post about the pet stores, see what other people have to say, the ones that live in ONTARIO that is! You are super helpful and thanks for the advice! I think I will go to petsmart tomorrow!

Both petsmart and superpet are fine. They did recommend a food (when Bear was a puppy) that made him stop using his back legs. Vet was telling me that certain types of dog food have high protein which in large breeds (I guess at 161lbs he's an extra large breed) makes their bones grow faster than their tendons, causing them to stop using the limb. Anywho, I can't remember the brand of food (purple bag-ha, like that's helpful), but I stopped using it. He's now on the walmart brand Actrium, as it's the only food that doesn't give him hot spots. For dry skin, which he has all winter long, the vet recommended a vitamin E pill once daily, and that seems to help. His coat has never been that shiny, but I have heard that either fish oil or egg works. Bear just barfs up egg. What a princess. :queen:

Purina is one of the cheapest foods out there, and it's cheap for a reason - corn doesnt' cost as much as meat. However corn is not a good diet for dogs since they cannot digest it.

I've been feeding my dog Wellness for 2 years now, and her coat is tight, smooth and actually glistens. Also, you feed about 1/2 the amount that you do of Purina, so the cost is not much more. Less poop too, since the food is completely digestible.

It's made with only human grade ingredients. Don't take my word for this, cause I'm not sure, but I have heard that food too high in protein can cause hot spots on dogs....?

Thanks for the link. I'm reluctant to switch his foods if he's not reacting to it. For some reason, this cheap food seems to be the only thing he's not reacting to. The vet seems to think he might be allergic to beef. Who knows, I just hate to see him suffer with the hot spots when this food seems to be working fine.

It's awesome! Made by Diamond and the generic version of chicken and rice is $22.99 for lamb and rice $24.99 for a 40 lb bag! This comapres to $63 and $68 dollars for the same food in a different bag. It has NO corn, no junk. Purina is not good food at all, Pedigree sure makes it LOOK like it's good stuff. Become a label reader and you can find some really good foods out there. Agreed raw diets are great for dogs, my older dog will not accept it though. Hmm for allergies, the most common meat cause is beef, most common grain source is corn. Corn is useless to a dog but cheap to use a filler. Corn is the number one ingredient in Beneful...so misleading.
Here is the label from the lamb and rice, I can't get the chicken and rice one to be clear enough to read grr.